【What does home insurance cover?】It covers more than just your home — loss of belongings during moving and travel is also protected!

Hong Kong has long been renowned for its low crime rate. Data from a global database website shows that Hong Kong ranks sixth worldwide in terms of safety index. In places with good public order, home burglary is not common. So do we still need to buy home insurance? Home insurance coverage is not limited to the indoor contents people commonly think of; it also covers many outdoor situations, and even losing your phone while travelling can be covered. What does home insurance cover? 10Life breaks it down for you!

Hong Kong home insurance mainly covers damage to household contents, third-party legal liability and personal accidents at home. So whether you live in the property yourself, let it out as an owner, or are a tenant, you can protect against loss of household contents through home insurance. If you would like to learn more about home insurance products, compare over 30 home insurance plans on the market now.

Further reading: 【Home Insurance Comparison 2025】Which home insurance is best? A complete guide for owners and tenants (with exclusive actuary ratings)

In fact, home insurance covers far more than just “indoor situations”; it also protects against many “outdoor situations”. For example, if you lose your phone anywhere in Hong Kong or overseas, as long as you have purchased home insurance with Worldwide Personal Belongings cover clause (Table 1), you can be covered for the loss. There are at least four home insurance products on the market with this relevant clause, among which HSBC and Dah Sing products offer coverage of up to HK$30,000, the highest among all products. In general, products also set a per-item coverage limit; HSBC’s coverage is as high as HK$10,000, so even if you lose your iPhone, there is no need to worry!

In addition to losing a phone, the loss of personal money also happens from time to time. Zurich home insurance offers this cover. Taking the Optional Home Insurance Plan — Household Insurance (Standard) as an example, the covered items include unauthorised use of credit cards (HK$20,000 cover), theft of money (HK$5,000 cover) and replacement of personal documents (HK$5,000 cover). Moreover, during the insurance period, the insurer allows the policyholder to make claims an unlimited number of times.

Many people hire a moving company to help with house moves, but accidents may occur during the moving process, leading to loss or damage to household contents belonging to homeowners or tenants. If the homeowner (owner-occupier) or tenant has purchased home insurance, the relevant loss of household contents can be transferred to the insurance company (Table 2). Among these, HSBC’s MyHome Supreme Insurance Plan 4 offers annual coverage of up to HK$2 million, making it the highest coverage amount among home insurance products in the market, while the maximum coverage per item is HK$200,000, sufficient to cover most household contents losses.

If an accident at home causes the occupants to move to temporary accommodation, some home insurance policies will cover the associated rental costs. For example, under the Zurich Choice Home Insurance Plan – Household Insurance (Standard), the total temporary accommodation benefit is HK$60,000 per policy, including daily temporary accommodation expenses, meal expenses, and pet temporary accommodation expenses. Interestingly, the policy also includes feng shui consultant fees as part of the temporary accommodation cover, providing HK$3,000 per incident. If the occupants need to hire a feng shui master, this may be worth considering!

Speaking of which, it is worth mentioning the clauses specially designed for landlords. For landlords, when letting out a property, the ideal is of course for tenants to pay rent on time. If, unfortunately, they encounter a “bad tenant” who defaults on rent, or if a resident damages household contents during the tenancy, home insurance designed for landlords can be very useful in reducing losses.

For example, HSBC Home Insurance Premier Plan B (for landlords’ rental insurance) includes a “Rent Arrears” clause: “If the tenant fails to pay rent in accordance with the tenancy agreement and the rent remains unpaid within one month after a court ruling, this cover will apply,” with a maximum compensation limit of HK$25,000. The product also includes “Loss of Rent”; if “the premises become uninhabitable due to accidental loss of or damage to household contents”, the maximum compensation limit is HK$75,000.

When parents go out with their children, they often need to stay on high alert, as children can easily damage other people’s property if they are not careful. Take the “Teletubbies” incident that drew public attention in 2022: a child leaned against a large “Teletubbies” figure in a toy shop, causing it to topple over and shatter. The parents paid more than HK$30,000 on the spot. It was later found that the child had only lightly leaned against the figure, yet it still fell over. In the end, the toy shop apologised and refunded the amount.

However, if the shop owner insists on seeking compensation, and the parents have home insurance that provides “Worldwide Personal Liability Cover”, the liability can be transferred to the insurer. For details, please refer to our previous article: “Teletubbies” knocked over — can home insurance pay out?

There are many types of home insurance. If you would like to learn more about home insurance products, click compare over 30 home insurance plans in the market to see the coverage and premiums at a glance, with actuarial ratings specially provided.

Note: This article was last updated on 25 August 2023.

This English version of this article has been generated by machine translation powered by AI. It is provided solely for reference purposes. In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between this translation and the original Chinese version, the Chinese version shall prevail.